Took a long lunch today, something happened.

[benhasajeep]

In Fort Worth area for work (I travel ofetn). Decided to drive over to Dallas during a long lunch.

Waiting on battery to fully charge. Will do the firmware updates once its ready.

First Z body and lens for me. Last new camera was D850 in 2017.

 

[nikonbill]

That's a "nice" lunch for sure enjoy!!!!

 

[Clovishound]

I've had the Z8 for over a year. I absolutely love it. I shoot mostly wildlife and macro. My Z7ii is relegated to macro work, and a backup camera. The AF and other features of the Z8 is a real game changer for a lot of wildlife shooting. There's no way I could have gotten some of the BIF shots over the last year without the Z8. I know that it's the photographer, and not the camera, but a good camera can definitely make life easier, especially when shooting moving subjects.

 

[benhasajeep]

Here is the other item I grabbed on my mad lunch rush. I did get a 77 filter for the 24-120, but they were out of 95 filters for the 180-600. So I actually hit a 2nd camera store after work. Hahaha.

 

[Clovishound]

I got the 180-600 this last Christmas. I was looking at either this lens or the 600mm F6.3PF. I went with the zoom for the flexibility, and closer minimum focus distance. I have not regretted deciding for the zoom.

 

[benhasajeep]

I got the 180-600 this last Christmas. I was looking at either this lens or the 600mm F6.3PF. I went with the zoom for the flexibility, and closer minimum focus distance. I have not regretted deciding for the zoom.

My first long lens was a Sigma 150-600 in F mount. After about 9 month the AF went weird and actually sped up (their version of s drive, not screwdriver), but making noise. So, I sent it in and it came back with AF about 1/2 the previous normal speed. I complained to them and they said the lens was running too fast initially. The glass is fine but there is no way to use it for items moving just too slow. I got the 180-600 for ease in travel. I have a Think Tank Airport Essentials travel bag and it fits in the center slots perfect (takes up almost the entire center).

 

[Clovishound]

I think you will like the internal zoom feature of this lens. I was previously using an F mount 200-500 Nikon and an FTZ adapter. It worked well, was remarkably sharp for the price point. I think the AF is a little faster with the 180-600 and it is slightly sharper. I really like not having to deal with the adapter. As a bonus I can use focus limiting with the 180-600, which I couldn't with the F mount. That has been more useful than I thought. I programed my F3 button to turn on and off the locus limiting, and that makes it far more useful. Focus limiting comes in very handy when photographing small birds at fairly close distances. I can set a reasonable distance behind the bird and don't have issues with the AF grabbing something in the background and then not wanting to come back to a closer distance. If I see something outside of my limiting parameters, I just hit the F3 button and turn off focus limiting.